Gingival absorption of a-tocopherol acetate and 18b-glycyrrhetinic acid : in vitro evaluation in reconstructed gingival tissue

Copyright © 2016 by Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objectives: To assess the absorption of a-tocopherol acetate and 18b-glycyrrhetinic acid, which are used as active ingredients in toothpaste, into a reconstructed gingival tissue. Methods: EpiGingival tissues were treated with a 25% slurry of toothpaste containing 2% a-tocopherol acetate and 0.3% 18b-glycyrrhetinic acid, for 2 minutes. The treatment was repeated up to 6 times, with 1 hour intervals. After completion of all treatments, the active ingredients in the tissue extracts and receiver solutions were measured by high performance liquid chromatography. Results: Although a-tocopherol acetate was not detected, a-tocopherol was detected in the tissue extracts, indicating that a-tocopherol acetate was bioconverted to a-tocopherol after absorption. We could detect 18b-glycyrrhetinic acid both in the tissue extracts and in the receiver solutions, with a positive correlation to the number of treatments. Conclusions: We found that our toothpaste effectively delivered a-tocopherol acetate and 18b-glycyrrhetinic acid to a reconstructed gingival tissue in vitro.